When a health care provider wants to build a new hospital, hospice or nursing home in Florida, or even revamp and old one, they first have to apply for a “Certificate of Need" from state regulators. It's a lengthy and expensive process that can end in rejection: last year, regulators denied 20 of the 47 applications.
Florida lawmakers are now considering repealing the state's certificate of need regulations. Advocates of repeal say it can drive down prices and improve quality of care. Critics of the repeal argue the health care prices and improve quality. Opponents say it will do the opposite, and allow providers to ignore patients needs if there's no competition for services. Some argue it could also siphon off a population of relatively healthy Floridians in affluent areas to new facilities, leaving older facilities for the low-income or uninsured.
Tuesday at 1 p.m. on Gulf Coast Live, Jaysen Roa from Avow Hospice in Naples explains how repealing CON could impact hospice facilities in Southwest Florida, and statewide.
Bruce Rueben, the president of the Florida Hospital Association, also joins the program to discuss the impact of the proposed CON repeal for Florida hospitals.
Also joining the program is Julio Ochoa, a reporter from WUSF in Tampa, who has looked at other states' repeal of the certificate and need and how its changed healthcare in those states.
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